Thank you. It prompted me to look up the word "sacrifice":
"The act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone."
We didn't sacrifice much in raising him. Love is free to give or receive. Money is better spent on health care, clothing and good schooling instead of fancy cars and a lavish life style.
It was Karl who sacrificed. To quote him:
One thing keeps popping up in my mind though... a couple years ago I swore an oath, that I would "...support and defend the Constitution of the United states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same..."
"I didn't join up to be part of some government conspiracy--I joined because I thought it was just one small way that I could contribute to the people of this country... although the discipline didn't hurt much either. As I think back to that oath, something about all enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC... I wonder who is really to blame for the degredation of the American society.
My money's on the American mass media. It seems like you can't turn on the news without seeing news reports about the death and destruction, and commercials that seem to subtlely induce worthlessness or fear, offering solace in the consumption of goods and services. The way I see it, people in this country (and the attitude is spreading across the globe), are encouraged by corporations and broadcasters to spend more and acquire more stuff, inducing a sense of security in material wealth. Some things, even tradition, can have a spin put on them to make the public needlessly wary--even fearful. Why aren't houses in this country built with big front porches anymore? Probably because we know more about fictional TV characters than we do our own neighbors....
Though I think this veritable brainwashing may not have been intentional, the people who cultivate this sort of society have a lot of the general public in their pocket, and many are trying to use their positions to reshape the world the way they think it should be, not taking into account any consequence of their actions.
Given a choice and an opportunity, I'd gladly do my part to "restructure" the commercial institutions that poison the society whose flag will one day be draped over my coffin. [/rant]
Another quote: "...I'm also Buddhist, so wealth and materialism is pretty darned low on my priority list..."
That was my boy.